Partnering with a company that has chosen to move their server network to a remote colocation has many benefits and reduced concern. First, what is a colocation? A colocation data center (often called a colo) is a data center facility in which a company or firm can rent space for servers and other computing hardware. These facilities provide a physical building, and temperature controlled cooling, power, bandwidth, and physical security while the customer provides servers and storage.
In today’s technology-driven environment, it is essential to know your vendors have enough bandwidth to support their requirements and your needs as a client. Most colocations provide bandwidth through multiple transit providers resulting in incredible redundancy for businesses. You never know when a natural disaster will strike, when a vendor uses a colo, they offer you the peace of mind when a local power outage occurs, your business activities will not be interrupted. All the equipment and applications remain available because they are off-site.
Many businesses can be misled into thinking that using ‘the cloud’ is just as good as using a colo. That is poor logic. Colocations are safer than using cloud storage and are fully auditable. There is no way for a company to have complete control over the infrastructure when using a cloud-based system. It is also important to point out that the cloud is much less secure than using a colo.
Data breaches are more common than ever before that is why it is crucial for vendors to offer services and products that are NIST compliant. This means they are taking the proactive approach on data security. This will allow businesses to focus on what matters most to their companies, instead of worrying about hefty fines and man-made disaster avoidance. With a colo, there are multiple levels of security to protect against forced entry, unauthorized access, fire, and other types of disasters. In addition to virtual security, there is also several layers of physical security that most colocation data centers have, such as biometrics, card key entry, cabinet locks, cage locks and of cameras for surveillance.
A vendor that uses a colocation data center is more environmentally conscious than the traditional onsite set-up. Colos have the time, resources and the ability to invest in research on greener technology. For example, companies using colos can cut down on their carbon footprint AND research new developments for their industry. On average, server rooms save 90 percent on their own carbon emissions. As our world becomes more data-driven through the digital disruption of business, using a call answering service that moved to a colocation data center is a safe decision for a company to make in regards to security, redundancy and disaster avoidance, and being environmentally conscoius.
